Knossos

A few miles from the center of Heraklion is Knossos, an archaeological site dating from the Bronze Age. Here you can explore the palace of King Minos, and follow in the footsteps of the legendary Minotaur and his labyrinth. The association of the site with the legend is no accident: archaeologists have found ancient Roman coins in the area, one of whose faces are engraved the Minotaur and the labyrinth.

Despite being in ruins, the archaeological site invites you to imagine a huge lively palace where many celebrations were held. The myths of Knossos tell us of a cruel King Minos, married to a woman named Pasiphae. She was the daughter of the sun and a prophetess, who was enchanted by Poseidon to fall in love with a bull and so gave birth to Asterion, the Minotaur. Daedalus was then commissioned to build the labyrinth to contain the beast. However, the beast was hard to appease, and every nine years it was necessary to offer it a victim. For this, King Minos had to choose seven men and seven women to send to the maze…